How Do I house train my 8 week shihtzu poodle mix Puppy?

Question

My other dogs lives outdoors, a house dog is new to me...

Answer 1

House training is a major worry for most new dog owners. However, housetraining does not need to be difficult. With a little knowledge and a lot of consistency, your dog will be thoroughly house trained in record time.

What works:

Dogs have a natural need to keep their den (your house) clean. You don’t want to live in an unhealthy environment, and neither does your dog. To ensure that he does not claim a corner of your living room for his own personal toilet, put him in a crate while you are away from home during this initial phase. This crate becomes his own personal “den” where he can go to have some alone time, and where he always feels safe. Few dogs will willingly mess in their “den.”

Dogs respond best when they know what to expect. Set up a routine and stick to it. The following excerpt is by trainer Matthew Margolis from his website, www.unclematty.com

“Puppy Housetraining Schedule

7:00 AM walk the dog
7:30 AM feed, water and walk
11:30 AM feed, water and walk
4:30 PM feed, water and walk
8:30 PM water and walk (last water of the day)
11:30 PM walk the dog

“If you can't come home mid day and early afternoon, have a friend or neighbor help you out for a few days or hire a dog walker. House training can take as little as three or four days or perhaps a week or more. The more consistent you are, the quicker your puppy will catch on. Dogs really like to keep their dens clean and your house is the den.”

Develop your own routine. Let your dog out every time you return home. Bear in mind that this may mean your dog goes outside after checking the mail. Teach your dog a signal that means we are going outside. For instance, hang a bell from the doorknob within the dogs reach. Ring the bell before opening the door to take the dog outside. Soon your dog will catch on and you’ll find yourself running to the door every time the bell rings.

Once outside, use a phrase like “Go Potty!” as your dog performs. Soon you will find that saying the word causes the desired effect. Remember to spend more time outdoors after successful elimination. If you go directly indoors once done you will teach your puppy that the only way to get to go for a nice long walk is to hold it as long as possible.

Biology plays a factor. Certain things will cause your dog to need to go outside. Use them to your advantage.
•A dog generally needs to eliminate 20-30 minutes after eating. Feed on a regular schedule, and be ready to go 20 minutes later.
•A young puppy will urinate after a period of play or heightened emotion. When the play slows down, be headed towards the door.
•What goes in, must come out. Limit water when the puppy will not be able to go outside for an extended period or overnight. Give plenty of water once you return to avoid dehydration.
•A puppy’s bladder is only so big, and he needs practice to be able to hold it. To determine how many hours he can go without a break, take his age in months plus one (i.e. a three month old puppy can hold it four hours.)

Watch for the signs. A dog will usually have behavioral signals he gives indicating that he is looking for a good place to eliminate. Watch for those signals. If you have a hunch that the erratic wandering and sniffing means puppy might need to go, chances are your right. If you wait to find out, you’re too late. You should keep your dog within easy reach until you feel comfortable that he will let you know when it is time. If necessary, leave him on a leash attached to you so that he stays within six feet at all times.

Scent marking will come back to haunt you. Dogs have a long lasting scent marker they leave when they eliminate. It is used in the wild to mark territory, sort of like a doggy signpost. Once he eliminates in your house, that spot holds the scent -- even if you cover it up with a perfumy cleanser -- for a long, long time. He will return to remark the same place repeatedly. After all, you have allowed him to do this by not covering his mark with your own urine! To eliminate the problem of remarking, you must eliminate the scent. Have your carpets professionally cleaned using professional odor eliminators. You can also try a bacteria or enzyme odor eliminator, such as Simple Solution or other products recommended by your pet store. Follow the directions carefully.

What doesn’t work:

Punishment. You come home from work and your puppy comes bounding over to greet you. Just then you see the wet spot that wasn’t there when you left. You take the puppy to the spot, shout and swat him on the butt. The puppy is unable to connect the dots between what he did earlier and what you are doing now. All he knows is when he came to you, you hurt him. Congratulations, you’ve just taught the puppy that you are unpredictable and mean. Punishing during the act will only serve to teach the dog not to eliminate in your presence, since you’ll hurt him when you see him do it. Instead, if you catch the puppy in the act, give a loud “No!” and immediately go outside. Give praise and/or playtime when the puppy successfully eliminates outdoors.

Rubbing his nose in it. Again, he has no idea why you are doing this. Dogs routinely smell feces and urine for markers left by others. What do you want him to read from his own markers? This serves only to confuse the dog and possibly to hurt his sensitive nose. It might also lead to coprophagia, eating his own excrement. Instead remove all scent from the spot as indicated above and redouble YOUR efforts to consistently follow a schedule. He wants to be clean; you need to help him know what to expect.

Answer 2

We got our 7 1/2 month old Shih Tzu 2 months ago and are still working on the potty training. Although I think u will have much better luck. I would definantly get a crate for him/her. By putting them in there they will learn to not potty were they sleep. Everytime you take them out of the crate they should go straight outside. U might want to carry for awhile as it might stop and potty if it is very far away. Make sure you put the crate were you spend a lot of time. At night it should be in your room so they can hear or see you. If the puppy cries a lot when they are in the crate try covering it with a blanket. We had a big problem with Seperation Anxiety and a blanket seemed to help as well as the TV going.

There are tons of websites dedicated to teaching Shih Tzu to potty train so check them out. Also if you go to a pet store or book store there are often books. Since you have a Shih Poo mix though it might be a little different.

Answer 3

I once had an elderly lady for a friend. She had a wonderful little dog. A mix of some sort. She had the dog trained well and it behaved very well. Learn here https://tr.im/SIjnC

She kept an uncovered candy dish on her coffee table with candy in it. The dog was forbidden to eat the candy. When she was in the room observing the dog he did not even appear to notice the candy. One day while she was in her dinning room she happened to look in a mirror and could see her dog in the living room. He did not know he was being watched. For several minutes he was sitting in front of the candy bowl staring at the candy. Finally he reached in and took one. He placed it on the table and stared at it, he woofed at it. He stared some more, licked his chops and PUT IT BACK in the bowl and walked away. Did he want the candy, oh yeah. Did he eat it? Nope. They can be trained that well but most, I'll admit, are not trained that well. When I was a young boy, maybe 5 years old. We had a german shepherd. He was very well trained also. My mom could leave food unattended on the table, no problem. She would open the oven door and set a pan roast beef or roast chicken on the door to cool. No problem. He would not touch it, watched or not. But butter? Whole other story. You leave a stick of butter anywhere he could reach and it was gone. He was a large shepherd so there were not many places he could not reach. Really, I think the number of dogs trained to the point they will leave food alone when not being supervised is very small indeed.
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Now if we are talking obedience training, not food grubbing, that is a different story. Way back when I was first learning obedience training one of the final exercises was to put our dogs in a down/stay and not only leave the room but leave the building for 15 minutes. The only person that stayed was our trainer, not the owners. Most of the dogs in my class did not break their stay, which would be an automatic fail. I'm happy to report my dog was one of the ones that passed.

Answer 4

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://bitly.im/aNNWA

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 5

A lot of pet stores have low cost training. At 8 weeks, it should be trained unless you're working & not home a lot. Puppies need time. For now, confine it to one area, such as the kitchen (easy to clean) Pet stores also sell things to put on newspapers to make the puppy want to "go" there.

Answer 6

This is how I have trained all of my dogs, and they usually only take a day or two to catch on. First start out with taking the dog to the door that you plan to use to let them outside, and say the word "outside", then take the pup outside and say the words "go potty" when the pup goes potty then throw them a party, get excited, "GOOD POTTY", "GOOD BOY/GIRL" and give them a treat. I would do this process every half hour, and then repeat. Good luck.

Answer 7

Buy a travel cage and put the puppy in it. After a couple of hours take it out and show it where it is to do its thing. After a few times the puppy will learn to go in the place you showed it to go. They learn quickly.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR THAT WILL LASTS AS LONG AS YOU HAVE YOUR DOG....PURCHASE A CRATE....IT COMES WITH A TRAINING TAPE....IT WORKS AND THE DOGGIES LOVE THE CRATE AS A PLACE OF SAFETY TO SLEEP WHEN THE TRAINING FOR HIM IS OVER...COMES WITH A SEPARATOR SCREEN FOR EARLY DAYS SO HE ISNT NEAR A SOIL IF YOUR ARE LATE TAKING HIM OUTSIDE...PRAISE HIM ALOT!! WHEN HE DOES HIS DUTY OUTSIDE....DO NOT GIVE HIM FREE RUN OF THE HOUSE UNTIL HE ......ASKS......TO GO OUTSIDE.

Answer 10

Good question I am still working on my 5 month old Shih-tzu.